Led Zeppelin Movie Imagines What Might Have Happened to the Band’s Stolen $200,000

On July 29, 1973, the members of Led Zeppelin received a nasty shock when they discovered that their safety-deposit box at the Drake Hotel -- a swanky New York City venue where they'd been staying while they were in town playing Madison Square Garden -- had been robbed of $200,000.

The theft made headlines, not just because of the large sum and superstar victims involved, but also because of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the incident. Police could find no signs of tampering on the box, and the band's tour manager claimed everything was where it should have been when he checked it the previous morning, so without any leads -- and the Zeppelin camp's somewhat lackadaisical approach to pressing the investigation -- the case was never closed.

Now, a pair of filmmakers are turning to crowdfunding site Indiegogo to help them turn their short film 'Fleecing Led Zeppelin' into a full-length movie that imagines a possible aftermath of the theft, starting with one man's fortuitous discovery of a bowling bag stuffed with decades-old cash. It's an interesting premise, but an expensive one, which is why the duo is seeking $35,000 to help round out the budget.

"The Drake Hotel is long gone," explain screenwriter Jackie May Tolliver and director Gabe Tolliver on their campaign page. "There’s no sign of the money, but somebody took it. Was it manager Peter Grant? Road manager Richard Cole? Housekeeping? It’s a fan movie, for lovers of history, or for folks who just want to know what happened to that money. We need your help to finish the film -- we need $35,000 for editing, sound design, music rights, DVD, advertising and film festivals, which ain’t cheap."

You can check out the 'Fleecing Led Zeppelin' trailer at the top of this post, and chip in if you'd like right here. And if this works, who knows? Maybe we can get a whole series of movies about unsolved rock mysteries, like what really happened to Bobby Fuller or where all of Van Halen's brown M&M's went.